Judge order returns Napoles to jail
MANILA, Philippines—After 59 days of hospital confinement, Janet Lim-Napoles was sent back to her detention room Thursday night.
The Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 on Thursday said that Napoles had no more reason to stay at Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) and ordered her immediate return to Fort Sto. Domingo, a police training camp in Laguna province, where she had been detained since last August on charges of serious illegal detention filed by her former finance officer Benhur Luy.
In his four-page order, Judge Elmo Alameda said Napoles had “no more reason to challenge” his previous order.
“The zeal to avail of continued healthcare in the hospital even after her discharge should not exceed the bounds of the law for she remains to be an accused for an unbailable offense burdened to be placed on a detention facility pending trial,” Alameda said.
Luy was allegedly held captive by Napoles after he threatened to expose her alleged misuse of lawmakers’ pork barrel funds. The court has scheduled the trial of Napoles on June 17. The businesswoman has also been indicted for plunder in connection with the pork barrel scam.
Alameda denied Napoles’ petition to reconsider his May 20 order for her return to her detention place after she experienced bleeding from the surgery to remove her uterus and ovaries on April 23. She was admitted to the hospital on March 31.
The medical report on Napoles, signed by Perry Ishmael Peralta, OsMak’s medical director, and her attending physicians led by Dr. Florentina Villanueva, said the vaginal bleeding would not recur “if the patient complies with the prescribed treatment regimen including complete bed rest and a stress-free environment.”
On Wednesday, Villanueva led a medical team that checked Napoles’ condition. “Mrs. Napoles was lying on the bed, reading an article in the newspaper, in a sad mood, and crying. She said nobody wanted to believe her and that everyone was making fun of her and making her life a circus,” the team’s report said.
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